Research Journal
2022 ― Volume 14.01
04 Living with Wildfire: Exploring A Resilient Future for Fire Prone Areas Addison Estrada, addison.estrada@perkinswill.com Helen Schneider, RA, LEED AP®, helen.schneider@perkinswill.com Maraya Morgan, maraya.morgan@perkinswill.com
Abstract The threat of wildfires in California has significantly altered quality of life in the region. Adaptation will require fundamental corrections in land stewardship, development patterns, and building practices. Design professionals must make sense of an overwhelming array of information. In this article a literature review summarizes design relevant information including the role of wildfire in California’s ecosystem and the variables that affect its behavior. By developing an understanding of the recommendations of experts, architects and designers can aid in delivering effective solutions that better serve to protect life, property, and the environment within fire prone areas. Wildfires play a vital role in the natural environment and their increased activity over the past sixty years is in part due to historic fire suppression policies and sprawling development patterns in the region. Structures within and adjacent to the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) can reduce the risk of structure ignition by implementing home hardening measures, defensible space, and sitewide fuels reduction measures. The scale of megafires cannot be designed against, and some fire prone areas may consider varying scales of managed retreat where fuels reduction proves either cost prohibitive or impractical. The impacts of wildfire are felt globally and the conditions in California are not singular. Keywords: defensible space, fire prone areas, home hardening, wildfire, wildland urban interface
1.0 Introduction In the early morning hours of October 9th, 2017, while the city of Santa Rosa slept, the Tubbs Fire arrived in Coffey Park, a pleasant suburban neighborhood on the northeast side of the city. Residents, awoken by evacuation alerts, had mere moments to gather a few things before fleeing their homes amidst the over 60 mile-per-hour winds leading the encroaching firestorm. The fire had started over 15 miles away, on Tubbs Lane in rural Calistoga. The fire jumped a six-lane freeway, to arrive in Coffey Park. Transformers exploded. A 100,000 square foot K-Mart burned to the ground. What had started as a wildland fire, became something entirely different as the fuel source shifted from trees and vegetation to buildings and artifacts of industrialization. The Tubbs fire became the most destructive wildfire in California history at the time, claiming 22 lives and 5,636 structures. In the aftermath, residents who returned
found their homes and belongings reduced to piles of rubble, cars melted, trash bins liquified, and their futures uncertain.
1.1 The Risk: Catastrophic Wildfires The devastation caused by the Tubbs Fire and the magnitude of the 2017 fire season was an astounding wake-up-call for California. The 2018 fire season proved to be even more devastating when the Camp Fire surpassed the Tubbs as the most destructive wildfire in state history causing 85 deaths, the loss of 18,804 structures, and the decimation of the entire town of Paradise.¹ In the last sixty years, the risk of extreme wildfire events has grown for communities in and adjacent to
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